MSNBC guest host Ari Melber devoted significant attention on Monday night's The Last Word to shielding potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton from scrutiny, both on questions about her health and on her record as President's Obama's first-term secretary of state.
As part of that effort, Melber and two panelists tackled recent comments by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) regarding Mrs. Clinton's handling of the Benghazi fiasco. Melber lamented that Graham was heretofore a member of the “serious wing” of the Republican Party who is flushing that down the drain in the interest in going down "what Jon Stewart called the Brainghazi rabbit hole to pull at her health in this theory."
In an moment of irony, MSNBC.com executive editor Richard Wolffe then criticized Graham for “pandering to the worst parts of the right-wing echo chamber” in an attempt to “curry favor with some parts of Fox News.” Apparently to Wolffe, any conservative wishing to get to the bottom of the Benghazi mess is really just out to gain favor with Fox News. Wolffe also quipped that Sen.Graham may be "auditioning for a part in the next series of House of Cards." That is, of course, a rather odd series to evoke given that the main character is a corrupt politician with blood on his hands who rises to power in no small part due to the unethical assistance of a pliant journalist.
It also doesn't get more ironic than the editor of msnbc.com -- a left-wing echo chamber of a news site as we have documented time and again -- accusing someone else of simply being a part of an ideological "echo chamber" wishing to gain favor with a news outlet.
The relevant portion of the segment is transcribed below:
ARI MELBER: And that brings us back to my favorite Senate press conference in a while - favorite in a bad way - which was Lindsey Graham. He's supposed to be this serious wing of Republican foreign policy circles. He worked with Senator McCain to rewrite our rules at Guantanamo. He is not a random House member. And he's going deep down what Jon Stewart called the "brain-ghazi" rabbit hole to pull at her health in this theory, Richard.
RICHARD WOLFFE: I think he may have been auditioning for a part in the next series of "House of Cards." Because there's no rational explanation. Here's someone with national security expertise who is now pandering to the worst parts of the right-wing, echo chamber about the deaths of three people engaged in active foreign service and diplomatic service for this country. I'm astonished. But you know, you made a play there saying it's because he's in a primary. Well, he's going to win his primary. He does not need to do this. He doesn't need to curry favor with some parts of Fox News. I cannot explain why he's doing it.
